Date Approved

8-16-2019

Embargo Period

8-20-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. Clinical Psychology

Department

Psychology

College

College of Science & Mathematics

Advisor

Greeson, Jeffrey

Committee Member 1

Frierson, Georita

Committee Member 2

Fife, Dustin

Keywords

hypertension, MBSR, mindfulness, prehypertension, race, trait mindfulness

Subject(s)

Blood pressure--Regulation; Meditation--Therapeutic use

Disciplines

Clinical Psychology | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Mindfulness, as a state, trait, and training, is linked with myriad positive mental and physical health outcomes. Understanding the individual characteristics potentially influencing links between mindful traits, mindfulness training, and physical health, is therefore important, yet remains under-addressed. Utilizing data from the ongoing Serenity Study (NCT02371317), the current project examines if (1) at baseline, higher trait mindfulness relates to lower BP consistently as a function of demographics, (2) Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training lowers BP consistently across demographic subgroups and initial levels of trait mindfulness, and (3) if change in trait mindfulness following MBSR training correlates with change in BP following mindfulness training, consistently across demographic groups. Results show that some trait mindfulness facets relate differently to BP across race and gender, that MBSR training may not be effective at lowering BP in demographics outside of people who are White, that improvement in trait mindfulness may not drive change in BP after MBSR training, and that mindfulness research would benefit from improved sample diversity to explore potential demographic differences in the relationship between mindfulness and health, rather than assuming beneficial effects generalize across populations.

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